Egyptian Journal of Petroleum (2014) 23, 61–65

Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute

Egyptian Journal of Petroleum

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FULL LENGTH ARTICLE

Tack coats for asphalt paving

N.F. Ghaly, I.M. Ibrahim *, E.M. Noamy

Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI), Nasr City, Cairo, Egypt

Received 21 May 2013; accepted 25 September 2013

Available online 26 March 2014

KEYWORDS Abstract Poor bonding between two layers of hot mix asphalt (HMA) is the cause of many high-
Cutback asphalt; way pavement problems. Normally, hot asphalt cements, emulsified asphalts or cutback asphalts
Tack coat asphalt emulsion; are used as tack coat. The objective of this study was to evaluate the practice of using tack coat
Bond strength; through controlled laboratory simple shear tests and determine the optimum application rate.
Application rate; The influences of tack coat types, application rates, viscosity and temperatures on the interface
Temperature; shear strength were examined. Test results indicated that latex modified asphalt emulsion has the
Viscosity highest interface bond strength. It was also found that applying low viscosity tack coat asphalt
emulsion at two layers is more effective than a tack coat asphalt emulsion high viscosity one layer
coat.
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1. Introduction
Asphalt pavements are usually constructed in several layers
and proper bonding between adjacent layers is required to en-
sure good performance [1]. The loss or the poor bonding be-
tween layers can result in several types of pavement distress,
such as slippage cracking, compaction difficulty, premature fa-
tigue and top down cracking [2–4]. So the importance of
achieving the best tack coat type and application rate is an
essential part to get long term performance of a flexible pave-
ment. According to ASTM tack coat can be defined as an
application of bituminous material to an existing relatively
nonabsorptive surface to provide a thorough bond between
* Corresponding author.
E-mail address: dr_ismailmohamed@yahoo.com (I.M. Ibrahim).
Peer review under responsibility of Egyptian Petroleum Research
Institute.
Production and hosting by Elsevier
old and new surfacing [5]. Normally, hot bituminous binders,
cutback bitumens (bitumen–solvent base) and/or bitumen
emulsions (bitumen–water base) are used as tack coat materi-
als. Asphalt emulsions are the most widely used materials for
tack coats instead of cutback asphalt or hot bituminous bind-
ers due to the fact that: (a) they can be applied at lower tem-
peratures compared to cutback asphalt or hot bituminous
binder, (b) they are environmentally friendly as they do not
contain harmful volatile solvents and (c) they are safer to use
as they are not flammable and pose a health risk to workers
[6,7]. Tack coats are sprayed in a thin film on the existing layer
surface before the construction of the next pavement layer.
After the tack coat wets the surface of the old pavement and
fills the tiny pores, it solidifies and develops what is called
interlocking. This interlocking is strongly affected by the li-
quid’s viscosity at installation. Low viscosity tack coat can
penetrate and follow the surface irregularities better than the
high viscosity tack coat and, hence results in a better interlock-
ing [8,9]. There are many other factors affecting tack coat
performance and interlayer bond strength including: tack coat
type, application rate, temperature, normal pressure,

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62
application methods and surface roughness. A bond strength
study in Louisiana showed that, interlayer bond strength was
2.3 times greater at 50 F compared to 77 F. This study
showed also that, at higher temperatures the tack coat adhe-
sion becomes relatively insignificant and most measured shear
resistance comes from layer surface roughness and higher nor-
mal stress, which increases resistance to slippage failure [10].
2. Materials and experimental procedures
This study was aimed at evaluating the influence of modified
and unmodified cutback asphalts types (cutback asphalt and
tack coat asphalt emulsion). The residual application rates
(0.05, 0.15, 0.25 and 0.35 l/m2), two different temperatures
(25 and 60 C) on the interface bonding strength, and two dif-
ferent modified cutback and tack coat viscosity (high viscosity
at 50% active material and low viscosity at 30% active mate-
rial). A 12.5 mm asphalt concrete mixture was used for the
preparation of test specimens. Triplicate samples were tested
at each of the above-mentioned combinations of tack coat
types, application rates, viscosity and temperature, after com-
pleting all the shearing strength tests of the factorial, statistical
analysis on the shearing strengths.
2.1. Materials
Asphalt: local asphalt penetration grade 60/70 (Penetration 60,
Kinematics viscosity at 135 C is 346 C.st, Softening point is
52 C) used to produce cutback asphalt and tack coat asphalt
emulsion.
Latex emulsion: Latex emulsion used in this work, (solids
content of 69%, Brookfield viscosity 700 cp/s and styrene
butadiene ratio is 24/76) was used to produce modified asphalt
binder or modified asphalt emulsion.
Aggregates: the aggregates used in all hot asphalt concrete
mixtures are crushed dolomite.
2.2. Methods of preparation
2.2.1. Preparation of modified asphalt binders
The required amount of the base asphalt was heated to 140 C
and stirred for about 5 min, and then latex emulsion (1.5% by
weight of asphalt) was added slowly to the base asphalt while
stirring. The temperature was raised to 170 C. Stirring was
continued at this fixed temperature for two hours until
achievement of a completely homogenous asphalt.
2.2.2. Preparation of cutback and modified cutback asphalt
binders
The required amount of the asphalt (unmodified asphalt and/
or modified asphalt) was heated to 140 C and stirred for
about 5 min. Xylene solvent was added slowly to the asphalt
while stirring to produce cutback asphalt and modified cut-
back asphalt binders (asphalt solvent ratio 1:1).
2.2.3. Preparation of tack coat asphalt emulsion
Emulsions are manufactured by passing hot asphalt and water
containing emulsifying agents through a colloid mill under
high pressure. The colloid mill produces extremely small (less
N.F. Ghaly et al.
than 5–10 l) globules of asphalt, which are suspended in
water.
2.2.4. Preparation of modified tack coat asphalt emulsion
Asphalt emulsion was flipping for about 2 min and 1.5% latex
emulsion (by weight of asphalt emulsion) was added slowly to
the asphalt emulsion while flipping for 30 min to produce mod-
ified tack coat asphalt emulsion.
2.3. Mixture design
Asphalt mixtures were obtained with a 12.5 mm gradation.
dolomite coarse aggregate and fine aggregate (bulk specific
gravity of 2.96 and 2.94 g/cm3, respectively, water absorption
of 1.3% and 1.8%, respectively) were used in the specimens
preparation, dolomite was used as a mineral filler. The design
asphalt content of 5.5 percent was selected at 3.6% air void,
10,390 N stability and 2.9 mm flow (according to Marshal
Test).
2.3.1. Preparation of specimen
A complete specimen consisted of two hot mix asphalt layers
with and without coat types at the interface of these layers
and a diameter of 150 mm. The bottom half of each specimen
was prepared by compacting asphalt mix to a height of 50 mm
at 160 C. The compacted specimen was then allowed to cool
down to room temperature. The bottom halves were allowed
to dry out at room temperature for at least four days before
preparing complete specimens to allow drainage of any
trapped water. The bottom half of the specimen was placed
on an electronic scale, which was set to zero. The calculated
amount of coat was then applied on one face of the sample
by using a paintbrush. Once the application and curing of
the coat were complete, the top half of the sample was com-
pacted by placing the bottom half in a compaction mold and
compacting loose mix on top of coated bottom.
2.3.2. Condition specimen
Tests were conducted at two temperatures, 25 and 60 C
within a few days after sample fabrication, to determine the
shearing strength of the interface layer of a complete speci-
men. For the tests conducted at 60 C, specimens were condi-
tioned in an oven for at least two hours before fitting them in
the shearing mold. The shearing mold assembly was then
placed in the Shimadzu Universal Tester (SUT) with com-
puter controlled hydraulic servo system and a velocity of
20 mm/min. Since the shearing mold assembly’s temperature
decreases during its placement in the (SUT), it was condi-
tioned for an additional half hour at 60 C inside the machine
before conducting the test. No oven conditioning was re-
quired for the 25 C tests, since room temperature was con-
trolled at 25 C.
2.3.3. Shearing device
A shearing mold was specifically designed for the shear
strength test in this study. The mold consists of two parts.
Each part has a 150 mm diameter and 50 mm deep cylindrical
groove in it, so that the mold can hold the specimens during
testing. Fig. 1 shows the parts of the designed shearing mold.
Tack coats for asphalt paving 63

Applied load

Asphalt sample

Fixed steel part

Shear area Moving steel part

Figure 1 The parts of the designed shearing mold.

2.3.4. Shear strength test
The interface bonding strength in this study was estimated by
measuring the shear strength of the test specimens at the inter-
face. A simple shear test was conducted using Shimadzu Uni-
versal Testing Machine with computer controlled hydraulic
servo system (SUT) to determine the shear strength at the
interface. Applied shear stress on the interface was calculated
by dividing the shear load by the cross sectional area of the
interface.
Shear Stress ¼ Shear load=Surface area
Where, Surface area = pÆR2, R = Radius of the sample.
the influence of tack coat asphalt application rates on the inter-
face bonding strength.
Table 4 and Fig. 2 show the variation of interface shear
strength with different application rates for cutback and tack
coat asphalt. Test results indicate that the highest interface
strength was obtained when both cutback asphalt and tack
coat asphalt emulsion were applied at a rate of 0.25 l/m2. Inter-
face bonding strength increased with increasing application
rates up to 0.25 l/m2 and gradually decreased at higher appli-
cation rates of 0.35 l/m2. The mean shear strength reached
1.3 and 1.47 MPa at an application rate 0.25 l/m2 for cutback
asphalt and tack coat asphalt emulsions, respectively.

3. Results and discussion 3.2. Influence of application rate at 60 C

The main properties of cutback asphalt binder, tack coat as-
phalt emulsion and the selected mix gradation are shown in
Tables 1–3 respectively.
Shear strength is considered the critical parameter to opti-
mize the cutback or tack coat application rate. Interface shear
strength is calculated as the measured shear load divided by
the interface area. A typical interface shear stress is shown in
Table 4 and Figs. 2–7.
3.1. Influence of application rate at 25 C
Specimens were prepared by applying each type of modified
and unmodified coat (cutback asphalt or tack coat asphalt
emulsion) at four different application rates to investigate
Table 4 and Fig. 3 show the test results which indicate that the
highest interface strength was obtained when both cutback as-
phalt and tack coat asphalt emulsion were applied at a rate of
0.25 l/m2. Interface bonding strength increased with increasing
application rates up to 0.25 l/m2 and gradually decreased at
higher application rates of 0.35 l/m2. The mean shear strength
reached 1.06 and 1.24 MPa at an application rate of 0.25 l/m2
for cutback asphalt and tack coat asphalt emulsions,
respectively.
3.3. Influence of 1.5% latex emulsion
Table 4 and Fig. 4 show that the modified cutback asphalt
(cutback asphalt with 1.5% latex emulsion) has a higher shear

Table 2 Main properties of tack coat asphalt emulsion.

Table 1 Main properties of cutback asphalt binder.
Properties Values
Propertie Values
- Viscosity – Saybolt Furol at 25 C 26
- Kinematics viscosity at 60 C, C.st 49
- Settlement and storage stability test 24 h% 0.7
- Flash point, C (Cleveland open cup) 76
- Sieve test% 0.1
Distillation test: - Residue by evaporation of emulsified asphalt at 163 C, % 57.6
- Residue from distillation to 360 C, 58 - Residue from distillation to 360 C, % 56
Percent volume by difference - Drying time, min 18
- Solubility in water Good
Test on residue from distillation:
- Penetration at 25 C 100 g, 5 s, 0.1 mm 241 Test on residue from distillation:
- Absolute viscosity at 60 C, (poise) 377 - Penetration at 25 C 100 g, 5 s, 0.1 mm 46
- Ductility at 25 C, 5 cm/min, cm +100 - Ductility at 25 C, 5 cm/min, cm +100
- Solubility in trichloroethylene, % 99.9 - Solubility in trichloroethylene,% 98
64 N.F. Ghaly et al.

Table 3 Gradation of fine and coarse aggregates.

Sieve (mm) 1/2 No.4 No.8 No.16 No.30 No.50 No. 100 No. 200
Passing% 100 66.6 56.6 37.9 37.9 19.8 11.7 9.2
Limits 100 65–80 50–65 37–52 25–40 18–30 10–20 3–10

Table 4 Modified and unmodified tack coat asphalt emulsions and cutback asphalt.
Group No. Binder Application Shear stressat Shear stress at
No. rate l/m2 25 C (MPa) 60 C (MPa)
1. Cutback asphalt binder B1 0.05 1.15 0.85
B2 0.15 1.22 0.96
B3 0.25 1.30 1.06
B4 0.35 1.26 1.00
2. Tack coat asphalt emulsion B5 0.05 1.28 1.04
B6 0.15 1.35 1.13
B7 0.25 1.47 1.24
B8 0.35 1.40 1.18
3. Latex modified Cutback asphalt binder at B9 0.25 1.51 1.21
application rate 0.25 l/m2
4. Latex modified tack coat asphalt emulsion at B10 0.25 1.62 1.37
application rate 0.25 l/m2
5. Latex modified cutback asphalt binder at low B11 0.25 1.57 1.30
viscosity, application rate 0.25 l/m2
6. Latex modified tack coat asphalt at low viscosity, B12 0.25 1.70 1.46
emulsion and at application rate 0.25 l/m2

Figure 2 Effect of different application rates on cutback asphalt Figure 3 Effect of different application rates on cutback asphalt
and tack coat asphalt emulsion at 25 C. and tack coat asphalt emulsion at 60 C.

strength value compared with the unmodified cutback asphalt
at an applied rate of 0.25 l/m2 at two different temperatures 25
and 60 C. The shear strength value reached to 1.51 MPa and
1.21 MPa at 25 and 60 C, respectively. Also from Fig. 5 the
modified tack coat asphalt emulsion (tack coat asphalt emul-
sion with 1.5% Latex emulsion) has a higher shear strength va-
lue compared with the unmodified tack coat asphalt emulsion
at an applied rate of 0.25 l/m2 at two different temperatures 25
and 60 C. The shear strength value for modified tack coat as-
phalt emulsion reached 1.62 and 1.37 MPa at 25 and 60 C,
respectively.
3.4. Influence of using tack coat at different viscosity
Table 4 and Fig. 6 show that the modified cutback asphalt bin-
der at low viscosity has slightly improvement in shear strength
value compared with the modified cutback asphalt at high vis-
cosity (at the same residual application rate of 0.25 l/m2) at
two different temperatures 25 and 60 C. The shear strength
value reached to 1.57 and 1.30 MPa at 25 and 60 C, respec-
tively. Also from Fig. 7 the modified tack coat asphalt emul-
sion at low viscosity has higher shear strength value
compared with the modified tack coat asphalt emulsion at high
Tack coats for asphalt paving
Figure 4 Effect of latex emulsion on cutback asphalt at different
temperatures.
Figure 5 Effect of latex emulsion on tack coat asphalt emulsion
at different temperatures.
Figure 6 Effect of different viscosities on modified cutback
asphalt at different temperatures.
65
Figure 7 Effect of different viscosities on modified tack coat
asphalt emulsion at different temperatures.
viscosity (at the same applied rate of 0.25 l/m2) at two different
temperatures 25 and 60 C. The shear strength value reached
1.7 and 1.46 MPa at 25 and 60 C, respectively.
4. Conclusions
The test results indicated that the tack coat asphalt or modified
tack coat asphalt emulsion has higher shear strength values
compared with the cutback asphalt; improvement in bond
strength dependent on application rate, viscosity and tempera-
ture. The shear resistance at the interface increased signifi-
cantly with an increase in the application rate and decreased
with an increase in temperature. The tack coat asphalt emul-
sion bond strength at low viscosity has slightly improved in
shear strength value compared with high viscosity.
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